Embodiments herein generally relate to guidance systems and more particularly to indoor guidance systems for the visually impaired, and to systems and methods for supplying a user with guidance based on knowledge of features of the indoor surroundings and dependent upon the location.
Over one million people in the United States and several million more people worldwide are legally blind. Even more people suffer from low or reduced vision. For this large population, simple daily tasks such as traveling, leaving the house to attend social events, or simply running errands, can be quite daunting tasks. The vision aids that have been developed in the past are large and bulky, and have drawn attention to the fact that the user has a visual impairment.
Guidance systems are known, but are generally not designed for the visually impaired. Likewise interfaces for the visually impaired are known, but have not been applied to indoor guidance.
Indoor mapping and guidance is the newest innovation in assistive technologies, providing electronic maps and guidance for large facilities, such as shopping malls or department stores. These existing systems are in their infancy, and lack many beneficial features. Additionally, they do not provide specific assistance for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, which is one of the main goals of the system discussed herein.
Positioning techniques using a wireless communication infrastructure vary depending on the types of infrastructure and service coverage. A satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) has a problem in that the sensitivity of a reception signal is degraded in an indoor area, such that it fails to acquire a signal, so it is not possible to determine a location. A cellular-based positioning technique for determining the location of a user by using location information and a measurement signal of a mobile communication base station has an advantage of allowing determination of a location even in an indoor area, as well as in an outdoor area, but its positioning accuracy varies depending on the disposition density of base stations and it has a relatively low location accuracy. A wireless local area network based positioning technique is a typical method for resolving the difficulties of indoor positioning. Such technique calculates the location of a terminal by using a reference location of an access point and a measurement signal.
There remains a need for a new and useful handheld system that avoids or minimizes the disadvantages of past navigation aids. This invention provides such a new and useful handheld aid.